


in the morning

by LightningRooks



Series: the unlikeliest of families [2]
Category: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (TV 2012), Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles - All Media Types
Genre: Family Fluff, Gen, Getting to Know Each Other, Implied/Referenced Homophobia, although its not from any of the main cast, just a side oc
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-25
Updated: 2017-04-16
Packaged: 2018-09-26 21:46:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 18,267
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9923459
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LightningRooks/pseuds/LightningRooks
Summary: "i'll tell you more in the morning."it's morning, and questions that went unasked last night will remain that way no longer. who is cassandra? why is she on earth? what are the turtles going to do all day in a tiny apartment?it's time for answers.





	1. chapter one

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> in which cassandra gets into an argument with a six year old on what it means to be alive

cassandra woke up with a start- and with two pudgy fingers pinching her nose closed. her eyes flew open but she didn’t move, since her neck ached from leaning on the edge of the tub all night. two bright blue eyes met hers as she gasped awake. the turtle was startled, but didn’t move.

“i need that to breathe, kiddo,” she said nasally. the hand withdrew, but the freckled face stayed, staring at her curiously. she stuck her tongue out and touched her nose with it and then crossed her eyes, making the turtle- it was mikey, right?- laugh. 

she moved to sit up, only to find splinter’s head on her shoulder, and a wet spot on her jacket from his drool. lovely. 

“hey,” she said softly, nudging him with her shoulder. he snorted as he woke up, disorientated. once he realized he was leaning on cassandra’s shoulder, he shot up, embarrassed. he was even more embarrassed to see the drool and tried to discreetly wipe off the drool still on his mouth. 

he opened his mouth to apologize when cassandra turned around to sit on her knees facing the tub. she tapped his chest almost absentmindedly with the back of her hand. 

“hey, look who’s awake,” she said softly. he turned around to see leonardo and michelangelo staring back at him. they were both wide awake and curious about their surroundings. he turned to look in the bin to see donatello and raphael awake as well, except they were...hiding. they had sunk down in the bin, so that their heads were above water level but couldn’t be seen from where cassandra knelt. 

“you’re all awake,” he breathed out, feeling lighter for the first time...well, for the first time since the power started going out. donnie and raph started to get up slowly, both staring at cassandra warily. 

“um, sensei?” leonardo said, glancing at cassandra. “where are we? and...who’s that?” 

splinter and cassandra looked at each other. somehow, they’d overlooked the fact that the turtles would be waking up in a strange place with a stranger among them. 

“i’m cassandra,” she said turning back to the turtles. “and you’re in my apartment.”

“cassandra?” raphael said, confused.

“nova,” splinter clarified. cassandra raised an eyebrow at this.

“you didn’t tell them my name was cassandra?” she said. she had assumed he told his kids everything about her- especially considering donnie’s fear of her. 

“there were other things going on,” he replied. making sure four young boys weren’t getting into trouble was a full time job, and the phone call between him and cassandra had slipped from his mind. 

“did you tell them about the pyrokinesis?” she asked, to which he shook his head. 

“pyro-what?” mikey said, head in his hands as he sat with his elbows on the edge of the tub. 

“i can create and control fire,” cassandra answered, and she was almost tempted to show off, but remembered how frightened splinter was of her powers. “wait a minute! i’m still mad at you!”

splinter blinked, caught off guard by her outburst. the boys tensed, wondering what their father could have done to upset cassandra.

“why?” he asked, dread creeping in.

“you thought i was a demon!” she said, hoping that her tone and half smile conveyed the fact that she wasn’t truly upset anymore.

it didn’t.

“i’m sorry,” splinter said looking down, his ears flattened. “it was incredibly rude of me to assume that. i didn't mean to hurt you.” 

he was bracing himself for cassandra to kick them out- she'd been hurt when they spoke over the phone, but...she'd forgotten about it, so hopefully she would forgive him.

“hey,” cassandra said, concern written all over her face. “i was just teasing you. i’m not that mad anymore.” she placed her hand on his shoulder, wishing she hadn’t said anything at all. 

“you called her a demon, sensei?” michelangelo asked incredulously. 

“i-i did not exactly- i didn’t mean,” splinter said, trying to come up with a reason that would sound acceptable. 

“to be fair,” cassandra cut in, coming to his rescue. she leaned away from everyone as she continued, letting fire lace her words as she spoke, “it’s understandable why one might think that.”

everyone stopped and stared, the boys amazed by cassandra’s fire breathing. splinter doesn’t seem nearly as scared of it as she expected and she’s relieved. after a few seconds of silence, mikey surged forward, hands braced on the tub as he leaned in close.

“you can breathe fire?!” he shouted, amazed. cassandra moved back out of instinct, banging her head against the wall behind her. splinter reached an arm out to keep michelangelo from falling over the side of the tub.

“ow!” cassandra cried out, rubbing the back of her head. wincing as she nodded, she replied, “yeah, i can.”

“do it again!” he said, bouncing up and down, causing the water to splash. 

cassandra shook her head. “maybe later. first, let’s get you all dried up.” 

she looked to splinter for approval- she didn’t want to overstep her bounds- and while he didn’t seem to get the point of the look, he stood up to start help cleaning up the bathroom just the same. 

“where are your towels?” he asked, looking around the bathroom. 

“i don’t have any,” cassandra said simply as she took the plug out of the bathtub. 

“you’re joking,” he deadpanned as he lifted donatello out of the bin. cassandra looked back at him and shrugged. 

“i can dry anything with little more than a touch- why would i need towels?” cassandra said. 

“because-!” splinter found he couldn't come up with a good reason.

“what if you have guests?” leonardo said. “like us.” 

“i dunno,” cassandra said, shrugging again. “i’ve never had guests before.”

splinter stopped at that, turning to look at her. “never?” he asked, slightly concerned.

cassandra nodded. “i...don't exactly have many friends on earth. much less ones that would stay overnight or need towels.” 

“‘on earth?’’ donatello said, walking up to her and looking at her up and down. “does that mean you have friends that aren’t from earth?” 

cassandra nodded. “not only do i have friends who aren’t from earth, i’m not from earth myself.” 

“wait, you’re an alien? aliens are real?” leonardo said, shocked by the revelation. 

“you don’t look like an alien,” raph said suspiciously. “you look human.”

“i look human enough from a distance,” cassandra said with a shrug. “but if you start to look closer…” 

she turned around to face raph, donnie, and splinter, and blinked. when she opened her eyes, there was a milky white film over them, startling the three of them. 

“what’s wrong with your eyes?!” raph nearly shouted.

“they’re like a second set of eyelids,” cassandra explained easily, and blinked again. when she opened her eyes this time, they were back to normal.

“why do you have two sets of eyelids?” raph asked, face scrunched up. “that’s so gross!”

“i have ‘em in case i lose the first pair,” cassandra said, and then laughed at her own joke.

when she realized no one else was laughing, she sighed and said, “they’re there to protect my eyes in case i need to see. like...goggles, i guess.” 

mikey and leo climbed out of the tub and walked around to look at cassandra. 

“what was wrong with her eyes, sensei?” leo asked. splinter tore his eyes away from cassandra, coming out of the shocked daze that her eye trick had put him in. 

“well, they were…” splinter started before mikey cut him off.

“do it again! i wanna see!” he said shouted. 

cassandra raised her hands up in front of her and said, “okay, but you do need to be a bit quieter. we don’t want anyone to know you guys are here, right?” 

“oh, okay,” mikey whispered loudly, in the way that children do. with that cassandra blinked, the milky film covering her eyes again. 

“whoa…” leo said, caught between grossed out and impressed. 

raph turned away, freaked out by cassandra’s alien eyes. “that’s so gross,” he mumbled. 

cassandra blinked again, returning her eyes to normal. though she kept a smile on her face, she was a little more than self conscious. she’d been trying to impress splinter’s kids, not gross them out. 

“raphael,” splinter said quietly but firmly. “do not be rude.” 

nevertheless, he did agree with his son- cassandra’s eyes were “gross.”   


“sorry,” he mumbled, arms crossed. cassandra just shrugged and smiled.    


“it’s not a big deal,” she said, tipping the bin over the side of the tub and pouring out the water. the turtles stood close to splinter, still soaking wet. 

“sensei, you never told us why we’re here,” donnie said, looking up at his father. he looked to cassandra, and she gave him a look that said ‘you’re on your own with this one.’ she already had a lot of explaining to do once the turtles started asking questions about her.

“well…” he started, unsure of how to tell his sons that he and cassandra had rushed them to her apartment, fearing for the turtles’ lives. “it was very cold last night, and the power went out again. cassandra and i thought it would be best if we stayed with her until...well, for the evening.”

“you can stay here as long as you need to,” cassandra said. “and i can try to help fix your power problem. i’m not well versed in earth engineering and the like, but i was the one who did the repairs on my ship, so i should be able to help a little bit.” 

“wouldn’t paola be the one to do the repairs?” splinter asked, confused. “assuming she came to earth with you- well, assuming she’s not from earth at all.”

cassandra laughed as she looked around her bathroom, water all over the floor from the turtles. “why, because she’s a robot?” 

suddenly, the temperature in the room- and particularly the temperature of the floor- skyrocketed. it went from comfortably warm to sweltering hot in just a few seconds. splinter looked at his sons, who looked at each other and him, to see if they had noticed the change in temperature as well.

cassandra snapped and shot a finger gun at splinter, an easy grin on her face. “told you i don’t need towels.”

all five of the hamato family gaped at the alien as they realized she was not only the cause of the change in temperature, but also that she had in fact dried off the floor and the turtles.

“how did you do that?” mikey asked, amazed. 

“trade secret,” cassandra said, winking. “now, who wants-”

cassandra was interrupted by the growling of someone’s stomach. the entire bathroom feel silent, and each of them looked startled by it. then cassandra snorted and laughed, a loud and happy sound. 

“well, i guess that answers that question!” she said, and gestured towards the door, which the five of them were blocking. “let’s go eat breakfast.” 

“do you eat algae and worms too?” raph asked as they filed out of the room. they all crowded in the hallway, waiting for cassandra to take the lead. splinter was relieved that no one noticed that his stomach was the one to growl.

“no,” she said as they followed her into kitchen. “but i do have cereal. i hope that’s okay.” 

“that will be fine,” splinter said, the last one to enter the kitchen. he caught sight of his reflection in a mirror in the hallway, freezing when he saw it. he tore his eyes away from him, pushing down the disgust and self hatred he felt bubble up. now was not the time to deal with that. besides, it wasn’t like he hadn’t seen his reflection before.

cassandra’s apartment was messy but uncluttered. there was no set theme for her decor- the only common threads he could find was the abundance of sunflower and star imagery. the boys were sitting around tall table in the kitchen as cassandra pulled out six bowls- each with a different size, color, and design. 

when splinter came to stand by his sons, both he and cassandra realized that there were only four chairs. 

“shi-shoot, i don’t have any more chairs,” she said, looking mildly distressed. “um...i could-”

“it’s alright, i don’t mind standing,” splinter said, cutting her off. 

“are you sure?” she asked, looking around, as if a chair would materialize out of thin air. 

“i am sure,” he said, smiling faintly. “is there anything i can do to help?” 

“nah, i’ve got this,” cassandra said, box of cereal in one hand and a half gallon of milk in the other. as she started to make breakfast, the boys began asking questions.

“so you have a robot?” donnie asked. 

“no,” cassandra said, voice firm. “i don’t ‘have’ a robot. paola is a robot, but she’s not...she’s not a thing. she’s a thinking, living being.” 

“that’s not possible,” donnie said, eyes narrowing. 

“yes it is,” cassandra said.

“no, it’s not!” donnie insisted.

“alright,” she said, looking at him curiously. “why is it impossible for paola to be a living being?”

“because she’s a robot, and there rules to defining something as alive. it has to be made of cells,” donnie protested. 

“yeah...except that definition only works on earth. there are tons of beings in the galaxy that aren’t made of cells but are just as alive as you and me,” cassandra countered. 

“such as?” donnie asked, arms crossed. he had that air of superiority about him that made splinter want to jump in, but before he could, cassandra answered.

“well, for one, paola,” cassandra said. “and then there’s all the inhabitants of ioavis.”

“ioavis?” donnie repeated.    


“mm-hm,” she said as she handed splinter a bowl of cereal. “they’re biodigital organisms- some of them were created by ancient capellans, but some of them came into being on their own. and they’re not made of cells, and they don’t reproduce on their own, and they really don’t grow or change. but they’re still just as alive as you and me.”

“but- but that doesn’t make sense!” he exclaimed. “every living thing displays the characteristics of life-”

“yes,” cassandra said, cutting him off. “ _ on earth.  _ the characteristics of life work on earth, with earth organisms. there’s a lot of weird stuff out in space- you can’t just apply earth’s rules to the entire universe.”  donnie huffed, crossing his arms and sulking. 

“what’s a capellan?” mikey asked, curiously.

“huh?” cassandra asked, before remembering she’d mentioned the name. “i’m a capellan. from capella.” 

“that’s a star though!” donnie butted in. “capella is the brightest star in the auriga constellation!” 

cassandra shook her head. “nope. not the capella i’m talking about. there is a  _ huge _ disconnect between what earth calls the stars and what...everyone else calls the stars. i mean, only in the last couple of decades has the word ‘earthling’ come into the galaxy’s vocabulary. before that, earth was just lsb32x to the rest of the galaxy.” 

“lsb32x?” leo repeated. 

“life sustaining body, number thirty two, and the ‘x’ means that it’s incredibly hard to live on earth,” cassandra explained.

“why is it hard to live on earth?” splinter asked. 

cassandra blinked, not expecting them to ask. “because of it’s climate, the atmosphere, the terrain...it’d take a lot of terraforming to transform earth into a place that other species can live on.” 

“really?” splinter asked, surprised. 

“yeah,” she said. “earth is what the rest of the universe calls a ‘death planet.’ it’s extremely hard to live on for non native species. capella was a death planet too- except it was arguably even harder to live on.”

there was a silence in the kitchen as it all sank in. it was a lot to take in all at once- cassandra was a capellan, the universe was full of life, and rules that humans had defined in order to make sense of their world seemed to be meaningless when looking at the rest of the universe. splinter was having trouble coming to terms with it all. 

the more and more cassandra spoke about space the more he realized how little he actually knew. he already knew so little about the events that led to his mutation, and now cassandra was speaking so casually of things that he didn’t know existed. that, perhaps, no human knew existed. 

he wasn’t even sure he wanted to know about all of this. while he thought the idea that ignorance is bliss was utter garbage, how was knowing about aliens going to help him? there were already so many unknowns in his life- he didn’t need any more. 

“do you have to work today?” mikey asked, breaking the silence that had fallen over the kitchen. splinter looked up from the untouched bowl of cereal he was staring at. 

cassandra blinked, spoon in her mouth. she shook her head as she chewed and swallowed. “nah, not until tomorrow at nine. then i’ll be gone until tuesday at nine.” 

“what will we do then?” he asked.

cassandra shrugged. “stay here? like i said, you can stay here as long as you need. you can leave whenever you want, but i mean, i’d wait until it was night to leave,” she said as she nodded at the kitchen window where sunlight streamed through the blinds.

“so...what are going to do all day?” raph said, looking around. “your home is a lot smaller than ours.” 

cassandra looked around and realized that he was right. for one person, her apartment was just fine. for two adults and four kids? yeah...it was kinda small. and she didn’t have anything to entertain them with either- she really should have thought this through a bit more. not helping them, no, she’d never regret that...but she should have considered what they would do to pass the time.

“i suppose your training will have to be put on hold until we return home,” splinter said, frowning. “whenever that may be.” 

“training?” cassandra echoed curiously. it occurred to splinter then that he had never told her about him being a ninja- to be fair, he’d never told her that many personal details. neither of them had. 

“yeah!” raph said, chest puffing up with pride. “we’re ninjas!” 

“you are in training to become ninjas,” splinter said somewhat sternly. 

“oh! that’s cool,” cassandra said, with a blank look in her eyes that told him that she had no idea what they were talking about.

“a ninja is a master of stealth and combat,” he explained after a few seconds of silence.

“oh. oooh! okay,” cassandra said, finally understanding. “so that’s how you jumped up to the fire escape last night!” 

he nodded, thinking back to last night. it made sense that she would be amazed in retrospect- she had no idea that he was a ninja. 

“cassandra,” leo started, seeming unsure of himself. “why are you here?” 

“in new york city, or on earth?” she asked.

“on earth,” he replied.

cassandra let out a sigh and ran a hand through her hair, looking up at the ceiling as she tried to figure out what to tell them. 

“you know...you know how i can see the future?” she said. they all nodded. “well...that’s not...it’s not because i’m a capellan. i’m what’s known as an augur- a being that can see the different paths of time. and being an augur isn’t defined by what planet you come from or what species you are- any sentient species has the capability of producing an augur.”

“even humans?” leo asked. cassandra nodded.

“i mean, there’s already been one,” she said. 

“who is it?” mikey asked, excited.

“what happened to them?” donnie asked, curious.

“well, uh...her name was jeanne d’arc and...well, she was burned at the stake,” cassandra said, rubbing the back of her neck.  

“because she was an augur?” mikey asked in a quiet voice.

“well, no. that was one of the reasons, sure, but she didn’t really know what she was. it was more because she was a woman, and because she was leading the french to liberate their country,” cassandra explained. 

“wait- how do you know for sure that joan of arc was an augur?” donnie pressed. “it’s not like you were there, and no one on earth knew it, right?”

“true, i wasn’t there. but thea- who teaches all the augurs who come find her- can see the futures of all augurs. she saw jeanne, and was saddened when she realized jeanne would never be able to reach her,” cassandra explained. 

“wait, can she see you too?” raph asked.

“yeah. she could see me centuries before i was born. she can see every augur long before they’re born,” cassandra said, the idea not nearly as unnerving as it used to be. 

“that’s so weird…” mikey said.

“wait, how does that work?” donnie demanded. “her powers seem totally different from yours!”

“yeah,” cassandra said, shrugging. “each augur’s clairvoyance manifests in different ways.” 

“but thea’s seems...so much better than yours,” raph said. “she can see a whole bunch of different people's futures and you can only see yours.”

“i can see mine, yes, but i can see all of the different paths i could take. thea can see the future of many different people but she can only see the most likely flow of time,” cassandra explained. “to be honest, it's much more preferable to be able to see more paths through fewer eyes than vice versa.”

“okay...but what does this all have to do with being on earth?” donnie asked.

“every augur has what's known as an enduring vision. it’s usually an augur’s first vision, and one that comes to them in the form of a recurring dream. it’s supposed to lead them to the place in the galaxy where they belong - where they can be the happiest. you don’t have to follow your vision, but...i did. and it lead me here,” cassandra said, shrugging.

“what was your vision of?” leo asked, curious. 

“golden flowers. my vision was of a field of golden flowers, as far as the eye could see. it was warm and sunny and i could hear laughter in the distance,” cassandra explained, her voice like honey and a dreamy look in her eyes. then she seemed to snap back to reality. “but...i had no idea what type of flowers they were, or where they were from, and everything time i tried to draw them or describe them...it was like sand slipping through my fingers. it was only two years ago that i found out what they were-”

“sunflowers!” splinter finished, putting all the pieces together. that’s what she had meant last night- the reason she was here was because she’d had a vision of sunflowers!

cassandra looked surprised at his outburst, then smiled and nodded. “yeah, they were sunflowers.” 

“so you’re on earth because you had a dream about sunflowers?” raph asked, arms crossed. 

“yup,” cassandra replied, before drinking the rest of the milk in her cereal bowl. 

“that’s your only reason for being here?” donnie asked incredulously. “because of your vision?” 

cassandra nodded and placed the bowl in the sink. “yeah,” she said simply. “now, why don’t you all tell me a story?” 

“huh?” they asked in unison. 

“i may not have been on earth that long, but i’m fairly certain you guys aren’t exactly...normal,” she said, hesitating to use the word ‘normal.’

they all turned to splinter as they realized what she was asking. mikey leaned over and pulled on his father’s sleeve, eyes bright. 

“tell her the story, master splinter!” he said excitedly. cassandra noted how mikey called his father by his name, and used the word ‘master,’ and stored that information away for later.

“well...back when i was still human,” splinter started. how much should he tell her? should he tell her about his life before? or just the mutation?

“so you  _ were _ human first,” cassandra interrupted. 

“o-of course i was human first!” splinter said, alarmed. she couldn’t tell? she didn’t know? he knew, realistically, that there was no way for anyone to know he had been human before, but to have his friend question it...it made anxiety bubble up in his chest. he was already clinging so hard to his humanity…

cassandra realized that she must have hit a sore spot, and moved closer to the table. “i...i’m sorry. i mean, i figured you were human first, but i just…didn’t know for sure.”

“no,” splinter said, shaking his head. “no, there was no way you could have known.” 

leo and mikey looked at their father with concerned expressions, and donnie and raph glared at cassandra, giving her looks that said, ‘ _look at what you did._ ’ she didn’t mean to upset him- not in the slightest. she just...didn’t know.

“when i was human,” he started again, voice more subdued this time. “i bought four baby turtles after work. as i was walking home, i bumped into a strange man. something just seemed...off about him. i decided to follow him into an alleyway where he spoke with...his twin? his clone? i still am unsure.” 

“are clones common in space?” mikey asked cassandra. she blinked. 

“well, no. genetically designed beings are far more common,” she said, then looked back to splinter. “so he was talking to his double and…”

“and i was bitten by a rat. they turned to me and spoke in strange patterns. ‘go no further,’” splinter said, his voice taking on a scratchy, mechanical tone. “‘this place is a place where you are not allowed to be in this place. we have been seen in this place by you, so this is not a place that will be left by you.’”

cassandra’s eyebrows shot up, impressed by how he could distort his voice- presumably to mimic the voices of the strange men. a small smile grew on her face as she listened to him.

“they attacked me, and i fought back. one of them was carrying a cannister of a strange green substance- during the fight it flew through the air and it hit me, cracking like an egg and getting that ooze all over the turtles and myself,” he said, ears twitching as he remembered the burning sensation of the ooze seeping into his skin. “it...mutated us all.”

“so it...fused together your dna and then the dna of the rat that bit you,” cassandra said, pointing to splinter, then moved on to gesture to all of the turtles. “and fused your dna with human dna?”

“it would appear that way,” splinter said, nodding.

cassandra hummed thoughtfully, eyebrows furrowed as silence fell over the kitchen. she didn’t seem surprised by their tale at all.

“cassandra...do you know anything about this?” splinter asked, dread creeping over him. did she know something he didn’t?

“it just...seems so unpredictable? this substance seems to haphazardly mash the dna of two separate beings together with very little planning- that’s...extremely dangerous,” cassandra said, looking tired all of the sudden. “genetic modification of already living and grown beings isn’t unheard of, but it’s... a very delicate thing. the substance sounds about as delicate as baseball bat.”

“how do you know about this stuff?” donnie asked. “genetic modification of living beings- did it happen to you?”

“not to me personally, but...there was a mass modification of capellan dna a few generations ago,” cassandra said, the laid back smile that had been ever present since they woke up fading from her face. “...but i’d rather not get into capellan history right now.”

splinter could tell that this was a sore subject for her- he remembered what she had told him last night, that capella had been destroyed during the capellan civil war. was this mass modification one of the things that had led up to the civil war? then it hit him- cassandra had not once mentioned capella’s destruction to his sons. was she trying to protect them in some way?

“do you think they were from space?” mikey asked cassandra. “the guys with the goop?”

“probably,” cassandra said, shrugging. “i’m fairly certain that earthlings don’t have the science figured out for that kind of,” she snapped, emphasizing her point, “instantaneous transformation.”

“so...what were they?” splinter asked. “do you know?”

the fact that cassandra might know who those strange men had been sent a thrill through him. if they could find out more about them, and the strange substance that had mutated him...perhaps they could find a way to undo it. he could be human again. but then...where would that leave his sons? they had never been human, so there was no way they could reverse their mutation. and how would he care for them, if he was human and they were mutants. being human again...what did it  _ really _ change?

cassandra shook her head. “ ‘fraid not. there aren’t too many species that can pass for humans, and none of the ones i can think of have any interest in earth or genetics...it could be just a few of them, but we have no way of knowing for sure.”

“oh,” he said, ears drooping. “i see.”

“and anyway, finding them again doesn’t guarantee that we could undo  _ your _ mutation,” cassandra said. “adding shi- stuff to dna is easy. removing it? that’s an entirely different story.”

splinter paused. how did she know what he was thinking? had she looked ahead again? he caught her eye and she winked, a small smile returning to her face that told him, yes, she had done just that.

“do you understand what they’re talking about?” mikey whispered to raph, loud enough for everyone to hear.

“no,” he mumbled back. “not really.”

both splinter and cassandra realized that their breakfast conversation had been going on for almost an hour now, and almost all of it was about things that would fly right over a six year old’s head. cassandra brightened up, letting out a sheepish laugh.

“i guess this is a lot of stuff for one morning,” she said, rubbing the back of her head.

the rest of the morning passed rather slowly. the boys mostly watched tv, with leo and donnie asking cassandra questions about space- cassandra had destroyed most of leo’s ideas about space adventures by noon.

“so there’s really no such thing as an anxiety ray?” he asked, pouting.

“nope. i mean, there are ways to induce anxiety in someone, but not with a ray gun,” cassandra said.

“i’m bored,” raph said loudly, drawing everyone’s attention. “there’s nothing to do.”

splinter was about to scold him, and remind him that cassandra hadn’t had time to prepare for them, and that she had been so very kind to simply allow them to stay with her- except cassandra spoke up first.

“well, what do you want to do?” she asked simply. raph shrugged, looking down.

“i dunno,” he mumbled. 

“well, i can’t help you if you don’t figure out what you want to do,” she said. 

raph stared at the ground, head resting in his hands. he seemed to think this over, and then looked up at cassandra. 

“you- could you teach me to crochet? in person?” raph asked, almost shyly. cassandra smiled sympathetically. 

“i’m sorry bud, but i left all my crocheting stuff at the fire station,” she said. “and i really only have one hook anyway.”

“well i have my stuff!” raph insisted, as if cassandra had forgotten. “it’s just...back home.”

“sensei...when _can_ we go home?” mikey asked. “i miss home...i miss my bedroom and my comic books and edward…it feels like we’ve been gone forever.”

“michelangelo,” splinter said gently. “it’s only been about five hours since you all woke up. i do not know how long it will be until cassandra and i fix the power in the lair, but we will have to wait until nightfall to go back to start fixing it. we will all just have to be patient.”

“but there’s nothing to do!” raph said loudly.

“well, i could back and get some stuff,” cassandra offered. “if you want.”

splinter stopped, brows furrowed. “you are...trusting us enough to leave us alone in your apartment?”

“sure,” she said, shrugging. “i mean, you’re trusting me to go to your home alone.”

he hadn’t thought of it that way. this day would certainly go smoother if his sons had some of their toys to play with. and if she was picking up things anyway…

“alright,” he said, nodding.

* * *

 

“i hope i’ve got the right coloring book,” cassandra said to herself absentmindedly as she wandered into the room with a tree in it. it almost looked like some sort of training room- there were weapons on the walls and the room was devoid of any furniture. perhaps this was where splinter and his boys did their ninja training. 

she approached a shelf on the wall- he’d called it a shrine when describing it to her. there was a framed picture on it along with a glass bowl that had been meticulously pieced back together after shattering. she smiled at the little pink palm tree that stuck out of it. 

the picture featured three people- a stern looking man, an emotionless woman, and a sleeping baby. was this his family before he was mutated? was the stern man- was that him? back when he was human? what had happened to the woman- was she his wife? was that his child? she remembered how he had panicked when she dropped off the care package- he’d said there had been a fire. 

if the fire was bad enough to traumatize him like that then...well, cassandra hoped she was wrong.

and then the bowl- it was the bowl the turtles had come in, right? it had to be. damn. if this was the same bowl, that meant that he must have collected all the pieces after being mutated- after his life had been turned upside down- and then glued them all back together. why? did he feel a connection to the turtles even then, in the hours after mutation?

cassandra stared both objects in her hands, the symbolism of the moment not lost on her. here she stood, holding a piece of splinter’s old life, and a piece of his new one. she placed the picture and the bowl inside of the duffel bag- ironically the same one she had put his care package in.

as she turned to leave, cassandra was struck by the way the training room looked, with sunlight streaming through the sewer grate. something about the sight- the room itself- filled cassandra with an indescribable feeling. 

she’d felt it before, in the ruins of azeufield, in the library on new cappella, and, most recently, in a farmhouse in france. the only way she could begin to explain it was as the sanctity of common places. the life that existed within the walls of a building- the emotions that clung to the space. 

cassandra could feel the echoes of love and patience strongly, with faded pangs of fear and despair. she felt her throat tighten with emotion as she took in this place that splinter had built- a home, where there should not be- and laughed hoarsely as she tore her eyes away. she wiped her eyes with the palm of her hands as she headed for the door.

she really wanted to get to know splinter better.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> have you ever been somewhere and you could just feel the emotions of people who had been there before you? that's what cassandra's going through right now.  
> also i continue to make joan of arc relevant in my works, even in my sci fi tmnt fanfics. i hope that her being an augur seems believable? i think it works well.  
> this chapter was going to be so much longer- i had 2 major events left to cover, but i found a good place to stop and i had to. this is over fifteen pages long- i had to draw the line somewhere.
> 
> ALSO! you can now contact me at lightningrooks on tumblr, or @splinternova on twitter. also, i've made a cute little cassandra bot on twitter, that posts random lines of dialogue from her- that's @CASSANDRABOT_
> 
> Thank you for reading, and please comment!


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> in which splinter and cassandra meet, in a way

“goodnight, my sons,” cassandra heard splinter say from inside in her bedroom. it was obvious to have the boys sleep in her bed- all four of them fit in her bed, and cassandra refused to sleep in her own bed when she had guests. 

she smiled as splinter walked out to join her. he sat on the couch stiffly, clearly not heeding her advice to make himself at home. cassandra, in contrast, had her back leaned on one arm of the chair she was sitting in, and her legs draped over the side of the chair. she had since showered and changed clothes, and splinter could see the beginning of a tattoo on her collarbones. it looked to be yellow petals, and given cassandra’s fondness for them, he wouldn’t be surprised if it was a sunflower.

“so now we wait,” she said. 

“so now we wait,” he repeated, nodding. they couldn’t just go out at seven in the evening, so they were waiting until at least midnight. there's an awkward silence- neither of them knew what to talk about. for two people that never seemed to run out of things to talk about before….this was strange. 

“you should sleep,” they said at the same time. cassandra blinked, then smiled before shaking her head.

“nah,” she said. “i’ll be okay. but you should sleep.” 

“no, i would rather be awake,” he said politely. “i am...a deep sleeper. i do not want to fall asleep and be unable to wake up on time.” 

cassandra gave him a funny look. “i’ll be right here to wake you up,” she said, before relenting. “but if you don’t want to sleep, that’s fine.” 

he should have known that excuse wouldn’t work. another silence fell over them, just as awkward as before. cassandra started fidgeting, kicking her legs just a little. he had noticed that cassandra never seemed to stop moving. she was always fidgeting or tapping or rocking back and forth on her heels. she never stopped moving. he didn’t know whether she was nervous around them, or if she was this way all the time. 

it was just a little bit annoying, if he was completely honest.

“it’s not just me, right?” she asked suddenly, snapping splinter out of his thoughts. “this...it’s awkward, right?” 

he let out a breath he didn’t know he’d been holding. “to be honest, i was afraid it was just me,” he said, holding back nervous laughter.

“we’ve never had this much trouble talking to each other before,” she said, sounding disappointed. “well, except for the first few calls, when we were getting to know each other.”

“i suppose that’s what we’re doing now,” splinter replied. “getting to know each other all over again.” 

cassandra nodded thoughtfully. “i guess you’re right,” she said. she shifted in her chair, bringing her feet down and folding her legs underneath her, and leaned her elbow on the arm of the chair closest to him. “what do you want talk about then?”

he hesitated. “i do not wish to pester you, since i know the boys have been asking you questions all day…” he started. she waved her hand dismissively before resting her chin on it.

“like i said, don’t worry about it. their curiosity is understandable- it’s not everyday you meet an alien,” she said. cassandra really didn’t mind the attention, honestly. “what did you want to ask me?” 

“well...i wanted to ask you...what is it like? being a capellan?” he asked. she hummed thoughtfully, tapping her fingers on her cheek.

“well, what’s it like being human? or a mutant, for that matter?” cassandra countered, then reconsidered. “actually, it’s probably easier to answer those questions since you have a point of reference for each. my point being...that’s a very broad question. how are capellans different from humans- that’s a question i can answer.”

“how is being a capellan different from being a human then?” he asked, the tension in his shoulders starting to ebb away. 

“for one, the second set of eyelids,” she said, gesturing to her eyes. “we have four lungs, and a larger chest cavity in general- it curves out in the back, but it’s easy to miss if you’re not looking for it. hm...overall, capellan bones are denser and have a small radius, and we have more muscle mass. oh- and our inclinations. but that’s all boring biological stuff, and i have a feeling you meant lifestyle and culture more than our physical differences.”

“well, yes, but- what’s an inclination?” splinter asked, eyebrows furrowed. he hadn’t heard her use that word before.

“oh- it’s the formal word for the...well the abilities a capellan can have,” she said, scrunching up her nose as she thought. “remember how i told you i always had the potential for pyrokinesis?”   


“yes,” he said, nodding.

“i also had the potential for glaciokinesis, or vitakinesis, or photokinesis- every capellan has the potential for any of these inclinations, but only one of them is actually awakened, usually at the end of puberty,” cassandra said. 

“wait, wait. glaciokinesis- that’s ice, right? but...vitakinesis and photokinesis? what are they?” splinter asked, confused.

“glaciokinesis is ice manipulation- but more broadly, cold manipulation, the same way i can manipulate heat. photokinesis is the manipulation of light- creating constructs out of light, like blades or shields or...well, anything they can imagine really. the more complex it gets the harder it is to create,” cassandra explained. splinter nodded to show that he was paying attention, and she continued. “vitakinesis...is the manipulation of life itself.”

his eyebrows shot up at the last one. “the manipulation of life itself?” he repeated, voice filled with doubt.

“yeah- it can be used to heal...or to hurt. it, like any other of the inclinations, can go either way,” cassandra said, uncomfortable talking about vitakinesis. 

“how can pyrokinesis go either way?” splinter asked, skeptical. he added wryly, “setting something on fire seems like a one way street.”

“i can put out fires just as easily as i can set them,” cassandra said, just a hint of an edge to her voice. 

“so someone with vitakinesis can restore life just as easily as they can put it out?” he said, making sure he had it right. 

cassandra sighed, shaking her head. “not...entirely. remember what i said about a mass modification of the capellan people?” 

“all you said was that there was one...you didn’t share any details.”

“it put limits on capellans. it was forced on all of us, after a...less bloody coup failed, and broke out into what should have been a small and somewhat weak rebellion. but these extremists had honed their inclinations to the peak of power- to the peak of control. and they did...well, they did enough to warrant government forcing genetic modification onto the rest of the populace,” cassandra said bitterly. “this happened...well, grandmother was still an admiral...so it’d have to have been about seventy years ago. my generation- it was already a part of us. we were born with these limits placed on us.”

“and what were those limits?” splinter asked, almost afraid to know.

“at the peak of my power, my control, i could completely obliterated one square mile,” cassandra said, voice even in a way that unnerved splinter. “but it would be suicide. with the limitations i was born with, immediately after performing such an act, my body would just...shut down and die. it’s the same with all the others- except vitakinesis’ limits are even harsher.” 

splinter was silent for a moment, taking in the fact that the woman sitting across the room from him could perform such devastating acts. then he spoke up. “why are they harsher?” he asked. 

“a vitakinetic person could kill without a trace, which lead to two things- a lot of unsolved murders, and a lot of angry grieving people pointing fingers at vitakinetics. the coup i mentioned was largely attempted by vitakinetics, but it failed because their final target was just like them- that’s the only way to counter their powers,” she explained. she rubbed her face with her hand, looking so terribly weary. “i guess i can understand why they needed to put a cap on our inclinations. but making that cap a kill switch?” 

cassandra laughed hoarsely, and splinter had a feeling that this was all very personal to her. had she known someone who had broken that cap? who had died because of these imposed limitations?

“a vitakinetic will die after killing one person with their abilities,” cassandra said, voice thick with emotion. 

after hearing this, splinter was almost certain cassandra had been close to a vitakinetic who had died- he doubted she would be this emotional if these consequences were simply an abstract idea to her. 

“anyway,” she said, clearing her throat. “you wanted to know about capellan culture.” 

he nodded. “i did.”

“building and exploration is central to capella’s cultural identity. i can’t tell you what capella was like before we started focusing space exploration- it was so far back in capellan history, and well, it’s not like i had the most consistent education either. after i was stranded, i had to focus on learning about other planets, rather than just capella,” cassandra said.

“wait- what do you mean by stranded?” he said, alarmed. 

cassandra blinked. “after the fall of capella,” she said, as if it should be obvious. “i was left stranded on a capellan caravel- a smaller exploring vessel.”

“but- i thought you- what about new capella?” splinter asked, confused.

“new- oh! no, i didn’t know about new capella until i was twenty-three. and by then...it just...wasn’t where i belonged,” cassandra said, trailing off awkwardly. 

“so...you were completely alone until you were twenty-three?” splinter asked, voice soft and concerned. 

“no, i was never truly alone- i lived on ioavis until i was seventeen, and ever since i left, i had paola with me. before i landed on ioavis i had ava- who was the ship’s original ai, and while she wasn’t exactly much for company...she was  _ something _ ,” cassandra said. “and i mean, when i was nineteen i met keandra again- one of my friends from before the fall of capella.”

“cassandra, did you know…” he trailed off, still concerned for his friend. she’d been cut off from her people for eleven years, and...had she thought she was the last of her kind? 

cassandra was silent, her face solemn. though her cheery demeanor had slipped several times since they had met in person, splinter had never seen her look so...grave. “no,” she said at last. “i didn’t know. i thought i was the very last capellan for eight years.”

splinter closed his eyes. he knew how that must feel- even now, the weight of being the last of the hamato clan...it was crushing. “i am so sorry,” he said sincerely, opening his eyes. cassandra’s brown eyes were staring at the wall, and even by the warm glow of the lamp next to her, they seemed impossibly dark, like voids in space, pulling him in. 

suddenly, she shook her head. “it’s not your fault,” she mumbled tiredly, closing her eyes.

when they opened again, they were lighter, and the spell she had over him was broken. still, he felt that he had to say something to comfort her. 

“i know how that feels,” he said after a short silence. she looked at him, eyes full of curiosity. he took in a deep breath. she had told him about her life- even if it was actually not all that much- and now he would reveal some of his. “i...i never told you my real name did you?”

she shook her head, eyes clear now. 

“my name is hamato yoshi,” he said, and he opened his mouth to continue, but cassandra cut him off.

“cassalyn,” she said, holding out her hand. he looked at her, then her hand, puzzled.

“what?” he asked.

“last night...you asked about my family suffix and all that. it’s l-y-n. my family name is cassalyn,” she said. “it’s nice to meet you, hamato yoshi.” 

he understood what she was holding her hand out for, and placed his four fingered, inhuman hand in her deceptively human looking one, and shook it. “it’s nice to meet you too, cassalyn,” he said with a smile.

“what...what would you like me to call you now?” cassandra asked, sounding unsure. he thought on it for a minute. he didn’t...he didn’t feel like hamato yoshi anymore, he found. but he found that that feeling of not being hamato yoshi...it didn’t come from self loathing- at least not completely. it simply...wasn’t who he was anymore.

“splinter, i think. and you- should i call you cassalyn or cassandra? or nova even?” splinter asked. 

“cassandra - i haven’t really been cassalyn since capella fell. i only go by that name on new capella now,” she said nonchalantly. 

“do they know you go by cassandra now?” splinter asked, curious. 

she sighed. “yeah, but...there’s a negative connotation to the suffix -ndra on capella. and to use it after… well. it’d be a pain to explain over and over.”

“why do you use it if there’s a negative connotation to it?” splinter asked. cassandra shook her head, refusing to answer.

“anyway, you were going to tell me something?” cassandra said, derailing the conversation. “or were you just going to tell me your name and that was it?”

he blinked, then looked down at his hands- at his bandages. he sighed, then said, “the hamato clan- i’ve told you i’m a ninja.” she nodded. “it...well, it was the last ninja clan and after...a certain event...i am the last of the hamato clan.” 

he was leaving out a lot, that much was obvious. she thought back to the picture he had asked her to get, and the fire he had mentioned. did he even remember telling her about the fire? she was hesitant to mention it. her curiosity beat out her common sense, as it often did. 

“did it have anything to do with the fire?” she asked softly. he looked up at her sharply, eyes narrowed. 

“how do you know-?” he started, almost suspicious of her.

“you mentioned it when i dropped off the care package, and you panicked,” she continued, voice still soft and calm, as if trying not to startle him. he faintly remembered telling her that there had been a fire as an explanation for his panic, and nodded. 

“right,” he mumbled, looking tired. he nodded again. “yes, the fire had something to do with it.” 

“i’m so sorry,” cassandra said, sincerity ringing in her voice. he studied her face for a minute, his eyes softening. 

“it wasn’t your fault,” he said softly, echoing her earlier words. “i... wanted you to know that i understand how you feel- or felt, i suppose. though certainly not to the extent you did, but-”

“let’s not turn this into a trauma contest,” cassandra said, cutting him off. he raised an eyebrow at her, waiting for her to explain. “we’ve both lost everything- it doesn’t matter that it was planet or a family, it’s still….everything. so let’s not turn this into ‘who’s lost more,’ okay?”

he nodded. “alright,” he said. there was a silence between them, as they tried to figure out what to say next. 

“the thing about capella being gone is that...it can feel like such...an abstract idea,” cassandra said, searching for the right words. “if i...if i hadn't seen it from the caravel...it would be easy to simply forget that it wasn't there.” 

“how so?” splinter said, eyebrows furrowed. 

“it's...well, it's easier to just show you. come on,” she said, standing up and waiting for him to do the same.

“where are we going?” he asked, standing up and gesturing for her to lead the way.

“to the rooftop,” she whispered as they entered her room, then crawled out the window. he stood on the fire escape, looking around. 

“are you sure about this?” he whispered. she nodded, walking up the stairs to the next landing. 

“no one will catch us, i promise,” she said, turning around. 

he hesitated, before pulling up his hood and deciding it was probably better to just follow her than stand in the open. 

when he joined her on the roof, she was unlocking a metal box. though there was no snow on the roof, the wind was bitterly cold, and despite his fur, splinter found himself shivering. his toes were especially cold, and not for the first time, he wished he had shoes.

cassandra stood up and turned around, a telescope in one hand and the legs of it in the other. she set it up next to him, and pointed it at the sky.

“now the light pollution in new york city is absolutely atrocious, but…” she said, squatting down and looking through the lens. she swiveled it to the right before finding what she was looking for. “you can still see oavis from here.” 

she stepped back, and gestured for splinter to take a look. all he could see was a few stars- like cassandra had said, the light pollution was terrible. 

“what’s the significance of...oavis, you said?” splinter asked, confused. what did any of that have to do with capella’s destruction?

“oavis, yeah. it’s the star that capella used to orbit around,” she said, eyes trained on the sky. “it’s dimmer right now...because capella is right in front of it.” 

splinter looked away from the telescope, even more confused. “how is capella orbiting oavis if capella has been destroyed?”

“because what you’re seeing is how oavis looked...roughly ten thousand years ago,” cassandra explained, tearing her eyes away from the stars. “are you familiar with light-years? and how they’re really not a measure of time?” 

“yes, i am,” splinter said, nodding. “they’re a measure of distance.”

“alright, good. capella is roughly ten thousand light-years away from earth,” cassandra said. “so...it’ll be another nine thousand, nine hundred and seventy nine years before earth knows that capella is gone.” 

as she explained, she turned her eyes back to the sky, and her wistful expression and misty eyes didn’t go unnoticed. he stood up, wishing he could say something to comfort her. a gust of wind blew through, causing cassandra’s hair to blow into her face, and making splinter shiver. 

cassandra noticed his shivering, then realized how cold it must be to him. she ran one hand through her unruly hair, and placed the other on his arm- causing him to stiffen slightly. she radiated heat through his body, and he relaxed. 

“sorry, i can forget how cold it can get sometimes,” she said, before adding. “for earthlings, anyway.”

“but not for capellans?” splinter asked, raising an eyebrow. despite the bone chilling wind, he was warm- cassandra’s ‘inclination’ certainly had it’s perks. 

“nah, this is nothing. capella was all snowy mountains and unforgiving seas- if anything, this is a pleasant summer breeze,” she said, a shit eating grin on her face. he crossed his arms, skeptical.

“you know, when you have that grin on your face i’m not sure i should believe you,” he said, trying to keep himself from smiling. 

cassandra laughed, before admitting, “well, pleasant summer breeze is a bit of a stretch. but between simply being capellan and my inclination, i really don’t feel cold at all.” 

“lucky,” he muttered, making cassandra laugh again.

they stayed up on the roof for some time, cassandra pointing out certain stars and talking about the planets that orbited them. as they spoke, cassandra felt the guilt that reared its ugly head whenever she looked at the capella of ages past start to ebb away. 

* * *

“yikes,” cassandra said as she stared at the fuse box, her lips quirked into a frown. 

“what do you mean, ‘yikes’?” splinter said, almost anxiously. 

“i mean...yikes, this is a disaster waiting to happen,” she clarified. “i might not know much about earth electrical engineering, but i know that this is...bad. honestly...i’m not sure we can fix this. not permanently, anyway.”

he let out a huff. “well, what am i supposed to do then?! we need power!” he said, frustrated by how helpless he felt. cassandra was silent, a finger pressed to her lips as she thought. 

“we could hook it up to one of the spare batteries from my ship,” cassandra said. “take this place off the grid entirely and take out all of this.” 

“would that work?” he asked. “how- how would we do that? how long would one of your batteries last?” 

“well, they’re built for ships that can travel faster than the speed of light, so for something small like this...i’d say a thousand years, and that’s a very conservative estimate. and it’d be...time consuming to set all of this up, but if it ever needed fixing, i could do it easy peasy,” cassandra said. 

“a thousand years…” splinter echoed. he let out a huff of a laugh. “well, we won’t have to worry about power outages anymore. how do we get started?”

“well, first we need a battery from my ship- that’s up with paola near bear lake. i’d have to drive up and get one first. that’s gonna take...well, it’ll take one day if i just go and come back, but paola will have have a hissy fit if i don’t stay the night. so...about two days to just get the battery, then...maybe three days to set it up?” she said, arms crossed. 

“what are we going to do until it’s all set up? and what are we supposed to do while you’re getting the battery?” splinter asked. “the boys are already getting cabin fever, and if your neighbors figure out you’re gone but there are still people in your apartment...i just don’t want to take any risks.” 

cassandra was silent for a moment. “you could come with me and stay at paola’s cabin- all five of you. i’m sure she wouldn’t mind.” 

“i don’t know...where exactly is bear lake?” splinter asked, unsure of this idea.

“it’s in the adirondacks, in the middle of nowhere,” she said. “there’s a really small town about a hundred miles away, but that’s it. it’s something to think about, at the very least.” 

he nodded. he had a lot to think about, it would seem. 

“are you ready to head back?” she asked. “there’s not much we can do right now.” 

he nodded, and as they walked out of his home, he put his hood back up. they walked side by side now, and cassandra looked over at her friend and giggled. 

“what?” he asked, perplexed. 

“your nose sticks out of your hood,” she said, smiling. “it’s cute.” 

splinter spluttered. “ _excuse me?_!” he said, not quite sure he heard that right. 

laughter filled the sewers as the pair made their way back home.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> finally, cassandra and splinter learn each other's full names, and a little bit of each other's past. neither are too keen on talking about it right away, so it'll be a while before they give out the full story to each other.   
> i was really happy to write this chapter- it gave me a chance to get back to just splinter and cassandra. trying to juggle six characters in a scene was hell. if you liked it, please leave a kudos and a comment! let me know what you liked!


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> in which the turtles learn some things about cassandra, and the peace is broken.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> warnings for implied homophobia at the very end -its not from the main cast, though.

“are you sure this is a good idea?” mikey said, still sitting on cassandra’s bed. leo sat next to him, arms crossed. 

“we don’t know if we can trust cassandra just yet,” donnie said, opening up the bin that he’d slept in the night before. “we know about capellans and augurs and ioavis but we don’t know about  _ cassandra _ .”

“so why are we going through her stuff?” leo asked, frowning. “what are we going to find that makes her trustable?” 

“trustworthy,” donnie corrected, picking up two pictures out of the bin. the images seemed to be printed onto glass, and when he turned them over, the image was the same, just flipped around. the first picture was innocent enough- it was of cassandra and a dark skinned woman. they were both smiling broadly at the camera- cassandra’s arm was out, probably holding the camera. they seemed really happy. “we’re not looking for things that make her trustworthy, we’re looking for things that make her suspicious.” 

the second picture, however, confirmed that cassandra was not from earth. it looked like a family photo- there were five people in the photo, and four of them looked normal enough, but the fifth...the fifth was unmistakably inhuman. 

she was tall, with long black hair and piercing green eyes- these were the most normal of her features, for her skin had large splotches of thin blue scales, and where there weren’t scales, her skin was baby blue anyway. her hair was braided, and there were long horns growing out of her hairline. her fangs were visible, and they looked like they didn’t quite fit in her mouth right. the woman looked like she was made of a bunch of pieces that shouldn’t go together- like she was made of jigsaw puzzle pieces from five different puzzles. 

overall she looked...dragon-like. 

“but if you're looking for something bad, won't you think whatever you find is bad?” mikey asked, frowning. donnie waved him off, staring at the image.

“she wasn't lying about not being from earth,” he said quietly. raph, who was standing next to donnie, looked over his shoulder.

“she's a dragon!” raph exclaimed, pointing at the woman. mikey and leo turned to look at each other, then hopped off the bed to look at the photo too.

“whoa….” leo said. “she really  _ is _ a dragon.” 

“what does it mean?” mikey asked.”i mean, we don't know that this is anything  _ bad _ ….” 

donnie was silent. 

“maybe she’s a mutant like us,” raph said. “which means cassandra was lying about not knowing the people who mutated us!”

“or maybe she’s just an alien, raph!” leo shot back. “cassandra said there weren’t a lot of aliens that can pass as human!” 

“the dragon lady looks like this other lady a little bit,” mikey said, pointing to an older woman, who looked almost...regal. she shared the same sharp green eyes and black hair as the dragon woman, although her hair had streaks of silver going through it. “maybe the dragon’s her daughter?”

“how could she have given birth to a dragon?” raph asked, voice dripping with sarcasm. 

“maybe it skips a generation?” donnie said, re-entering the conversation. he pointed to the blonde child in the arms of the older woman. “see, that’s gotta be cassandra, and she can breathe fire, so...maybe she’s part dragon?” 

“yeah but she doesn’t look like a dragon- and she doesn’t look like any of the women in this picture either,” leo pointed out.

“maybe she was adopted?” mikey offered. they were all silent as they stared at the photo. the remaining two figures were a tall, dark skinned woman with short blonde hair, and the tiny baby she was holding proudly. 

“we can come back to this,” donnie said, putting the photo on the bed. “splinter and cassandra won’t be gone forever.” 

raph and leo both glanced at the photo on the bed as donnie picked up five hardcover books out of the bin. he set down four of them, and examined a plain looking purple book, with gold symbols on the spine and cover. it felt heavier than a normal book should, and the pages had a strange quality to them- they were thicker than normal paper, and were almost translucent. donnie couldn’t read a word of what was written, but he noticed that the writing looked like the tattoos cassandra had on her arms. so it was writing, then.

“these are useless,” donnie said, putting the book on the bed with a frown. he wished he could read the alien texts, but he simply didn’t have time, especially since it was written in an entirely different alphabet.

“i wonder what the tattoos on cassandra’s arms say,” mikey said. “we should ask her when she gets back.”

“we can’t ask her anything when she gets back, shellbrain! we’re supposed to be in bed!” raph hissed angrily. mikey was silent for a moment.

“what if she catches us?” he asked quietly. 

“dad’ll protect us,” raph said gruffly, which made donnie’s eyes widen as he examined a small, disk shaped device. 

“she’s not gonna hurt us!” leo said, frustrated at his brothers’ suspicion. 

“what if- what if she’s already taken care of- what if she already- what if she lured dad out of the apartment so she could...get rid of him?” donnie asked, face pale. 

“w-what, like she...like she killed him?” raph asked, eyes wide in fear. donnie nodded. 

“that’s just stupid, donnie,” leo protested. “no one could ever beat sensei.” 

“not even a fire breathing alien who can see the future?” donnie countered. “one who might be part dragon?” 

leo didn’t respond, instead frowning and crossing his arms. it was mikey who spoke up next.

“she won’t hurt him,” he said quietly. “she’s his friend.”

“she’s been his friend for what, a month? face it, mikey, cassandra isn’t- she’s not the superhero you and leo want her to be. she’s not- she’s not  _ nova _ ,” donnie said. 

“but she  _ is  _ the herald!” leo said, eyes wide with realization. “whether or not she’s a hero, she does help people as the herald- and she’s a firefighter! she’s gotta be a good person if she’s a firefighter!”

“leo-!” donnie started, thumb pressed firmly on the screen of the disk. the screen suddenly lit up, and scanned donnie’s thumbprint. startled, donnie dropped the disc as it came to life. 

a pleasant, if mechanical, voice spoke as the disk lit up the entire room, projecting stars and planets into the air. none of them could understand the strange lilting words save for one- ‘cassandra’.

“what is it doing, donnie?” raph asked, spooked by the disk and the voice inside. 

“oh- oh! right, i keep forgetting we’re on earth,” the disk said, switching to english once it registered raph’s words. “let me repeat myself: where is cassandra? i don’t recognize your fingerprint or your voice.”

“uh- she’s uh, not here right now,” donnie said. “who- who are you?” 

“i am ava, an ai created for admiral raelyn-” ava started, before raph pointed at the disk on the floor and started shouting.

“see! cassandra stole ava from this admiral!” he said, stamping his foot down.

“admiral raelyn was cassandra’s grandmother,” ava said, voice sounding oddly deadpan. “admiral raelyn gave me and this star map to her granddaughter, who was then called cassalyn.” 

“star map?” leo asked.

“cassalyn?” donnie echoed. 

“why’d cassandra change her name? what was wrong with cassalyn?” mikey asked, curious. 

“she didn’t change her name, she just removed her family suffix,” ava answered, almost perplexed by his questions. 

“family...suffix?” mikey repeated. 

“yes. l-y-n is cassandra’s family suffix. after the capellan civil war, she chose to drop it, taking on the suffix n-d-r-a instead,” ava explained.

“so...what family uses n-d-r-a?” leo asked as donnie and raph stared at the unfamiliar planets around them. 

ava was silent. “none. n-d-r-a is the orphan’s suffix,” she said at last. 

all the boys turned to look at the disk, then to each other, each with a concerned expression on their face.

“well,” ava continued, “i suppose that’s not entirely true. it’s the suffix of the unwanted.”

“the...unwanted? why would cassandra give herself that suffix?” donnie asked, voice quiet.

“i suppose you’ll have to ask her yourself,” ava said. “she should be here any second now.” 

sure enough, the boys heard the front door slam open and shut, and donnie scooped up the disk, tapping frantically at the screen to get it turn off, causing the galaxy around them to spin and shift. 

“ava, turn off-” donnie whispered before the bedroom door slammed open, revealing a furious cassandra. at the same time, splinter appeared at the window, and slipped in through the unlocked window, silent as a shadow.

“what is going on in here?” splinter demanded, his anger clear in his words.

they’d expected cassandra to be angry, but it never occurred to them that their father might be angry as well. 

cassandra’s eyes widened when she caught sight of the disk in donnie’s hands, and quick as a mouse, she ripped it out of his hands. 

_ “that’s not yours,” _ she all but hissed, leaning in close. in that moment, with cassandra’s dark eyes gleaming by the artificial starlight and her fury radiating off of her, leaving the room uncomfortably hot, donnie could understand why his father thought she was a demon the first time he saw her. 

she stood up to her full height which seemed impossibly tall now, and spoke to ava. “ava, are you alright?” 

“yes, i’m fine. they didn’t anything besides talk to me,” ava said. “i’m surprised you got here so quickly, though.”

“we were already on our way home when you messaged me,” cassandra said, shocking the four turtles by the implication.

“ava ratted us out?!” raph said, betrayed.

“ava’s programmed to call me whenever she’s awoken by someone i haven’t authorized,” cassandra said, voice stern. 

“why?” donnie asked, arms crossed. splinter was surprised by his son’s antagonistic attitude. donatello had never been so openly confrontational before- raphael he expected this from, but not donatello. 

“because it has incredibly sensitive information on it,” cassandra said, waving the disk around. as she got angrier, cassandra’s movements grew more and more dramatic. 

“like what?” donnie pressed, eyes narrowing as he glared at her. “what are you hiding?” 

“donatello!” splinter said sharply, causing the turtle to stop and look at his father. 

however, at the same time, cassandra exploded, _**“the location of new capella, okay?!”**_

the entire room went silent, save for cassandra’s heavy breathing, face flush with anger. she seemed to come to her senses, and straightened up, taking a few, deep breaths. she put a hand over her eyes as she calmed down.

“i’m sorry for shouting,” she said quietly. “but this star map, on top of having the location of new capella in it, also has incredibly deep sentimental value to me...it’s all i have left of my grandmother, my mother...and for a long time, it was all i had left from capella itself.”

“what...what happened to capella?” leo asked. “and why is new capella a secret?”

cassandra sighed, dropping her hand to her side, revealing very tired looking eyes. “capella was completely destroyed at the end of the capellan civil war...when i was twelve years old. as for why new capella is a secret...it’s so they can rebuild in peace, without fear that someone else is going to come in and finish them all off. so, to the rest of the galaxy, keandra and i are the very last capellans.” 

“why didn’t you tell us capella was destroyed?” donnie asked, though his voice was less accusatory. “and how was capella destroyed in the first place?” 

“i...i didn’t want to scare you or overwhelm you- you all learned that the universe is full of life just yesterday, and then to reveal that there are beings so powerful they can destroy an entire planet? nah. that’s too much,” she said, shaking her head.

“so it-” donatello started before cassandra cut him off. 

“i’d rather not tell this story at two eleven in the morning, okay?” she said, walking over to the bin to start putting her things away. she knelt down on the floor next to the bin. 

donatello opened his mouth to protest, but was cut off by the sharp glare his father gave him. mikey walked over to help cassandra, handing her books. 

hesitantly, he asked, “can i ask just two questions?” 

cassandra sighed, but nodded. “sure, kiddo.” 

“well, first- keandra- were they an orphan?” mikey asked, holding the photos, but not giving them to cassandra. 

cassandra froze- and so did splinter. she turned to look at mikey, eyes impossibly wide. “how do you...how do you know about that?” 

“ava...she told us the suffix n-d-r-a is for orphans...for the unwanted,” mikey’s voice was barely above a whisper, but it felt deafening in the quiet bedroom.

cassandra was silent for a long time. “yes,” she said, voice unreadable. “keandra was an orphan too. what was your second question?”

mikey blinked, clearly expecting her to explain why she had the suffix as well. he looked down at the photos, then held them out, but still did not let go of them. 

“um...who are the people in these photos?” he asked. “and what’s up with the dragon?”

“the...dragon?” cassandra repeated, confused, before looking down at the photo and realizing exactly what mikey meant. “oh - you mean- yeah. that’s my mother.” 

“i told you!” donnie said to his brothers. “i told you cassandra was part dragon!”

cassandra looked confused, then smiled. “no, no, no, i’m not part dragon. i was adopted. my mother wasn’t really a dragon either- she was a hybrid. half capellan, half draconian.”

mikey turned to give his brother a smug grin.

“so...could she breathe fire too?” leo asked. cassandra’s smile faded as she shook her head.

“no, she...the draconian in her prevented her from having powers like mine, and the capellan in her made her wings too weak and her body too heavy to fly,” she explained, looking at the family photo, her voice becoming melancholic.

“that sounds terrible,” raph said, brow furrowed. “what’s the point of being a hybrid if you don’t get cool powers? not even the one she was supposed to get!” 

cassandra looked at him, surprised, then smiled again and started laughing. “you know, my mother often asked the same question herself,” she turned back to the photo, and everyone walked over and crowded around her as she pointed to each person. “this is raelyn, my grandmother,” she said, pointing to the tall, dark haired woman with silver streaks in her hair. she pointed to the dark skinned woman holding the baby and continued, “this is my other mother and my sister.”

“how come she gets two moms and we don’t one at all?” raph demanded, looking at his father. 

splinter blinked, not expecting the question at all. his mind blanked, and throat went dry. he hadn’t told them about tang shen- hadn’t wanted them to get attached to someone who wasn’t there. he didn’t want them to think of her as their mother. 

“that’s just the way the cookie crumbles, kiddo,” cassandra said, noticing splinter’s discomfort. “some people get two moms, some people get two dads, some get one of each, some only get one, and some get none at all.” 

raph was placated by her answer, and splinter sent cassandra a relieved smile. 

mikey held out the other photograph, the one that had gone unanalyzed after the shock of seeing the dragon- cassandra’s mother, and asked, “who’s this?”

the fondness in cassandra’s eyes that had built up as she looked at the photo of her family changed somehow as she looked at the second picture. her smile faded slightly and her gaze was laced with equal parts sorrow and fondness. she gently took the picture from michelangelo, and he realized where he’d seen that look before- on his father, whenever he looked at the photo in his shrine.

“this is dulcie. she...she was my fiancee,” cassandra said, voice impossibly soft. 

curiosity getting the best of him, mikey asked, voice equally soft, “what happened to her?”

splinter had a feeling he already knew the answer, and softly scolded michelangelo, saying, “it is impolite to pry.”

cassandra stood up suddenly, sighing. “no, it’s okay. she...she passed away.” 

mikey’s eyes widened, and his mouth opened slightly. “i’m so sorry,” he said, feeling bad for asking. 

splinter closed his eyes, his ears flattening. he wanted to say something- anything- to make her feel better, since his sons had all but interrogated her earlier, and now they were bringing up painful memories. he’d also have to have a serious conversation with his sons in the morning as well.

“not a big deal kid,” she said, sounding tired. she rubbed her face with her hand, and turned to look at the turtles, but focused on donnie. “i understand your curiosity and suspicion. i get it. but...everything i did and said as nova- that was genuine. none of that- okay, maybe the first two calls- but everything after that? that was me. none of it was an act. nova...cassandra...they’re the same person. so unless everything i did as nova is meaningless to you...please have just a little bit of faith in me?”

the other turtles looked thoroughly ashamed, and donatello did seem a bit guilty. begrudgingly, he nodded. “you have to promise to tell us everything,” he said, meeting her tired eyes.

cassandra shook her head. “i can’t promise that. there are things that no one else knows- things that no one else  _ can  _ know. i can promise you most of it, but i don’t  _ owe  _ you my entire life story. any secrets i keep, however...i promise you that no harm will come to you because of them.”  

donnie didn’t like this answer at all. he wanted to know everything- what was she hiding, and why? but he was very aware of his father’s eyes on him, and his brothers had already seemed to back down, so he just nodded, arms crossed. 

“now, it is time for you to go back to sleep,” splinter said, arms crossed. “we are going to discuss this in the morning- i will decide what your punishment will be then.”

the boys knew that if they protested, their punishment would only be worse in the morning. they all climbed back into the bed as cassandra left the room, star map in her hand. 

“i am so sorry,” he said as she placed the map on the kitchen table. she shook her head. 

“they’re entitled to their curiosity, but...i didn’t think they distrusted me that much,” she said, sounding quite hurt. 

“i didn’t either,” splinter confessed. he knew they were wary of her- at least, donatello and raphael were, but to be so suspicious of her that they would rummage through her personal belongings? he had no idea that his boys would do something like that.

there was a silence in the kitchen, before cassandra sighed and pointed at the couch. “you can sleep on the couch, i’ll sleep in the chair,” she said, yawning.

“no, i couldn’t-” splinter said, before cassandra cut him off, a dull anger in her eyes.

“look, it’s my apartment, you’re my guest, sleep on the goddamn couch,” she said, pushing past him and flopping down in the chair.

he could tell she was in no mood to argue, and to be fair, neither was he. he hesitantly laid down on the couch, before saying softly, “goodnight, cassandra.”

her lips twitched into a smile. “night, splinter.”

* * *

splinter, as it turned out, really  _ was  _ a deep sleeper. even worse- he snored  _ so  _ loudly. perhaps because she fallen asleep first last night, she hadn’t noticed it, but holy shit. cassandra clearly wasn’t going to get any sleep.

it was almost five in the morning- she could go in now, and just hang out in the fire station. she’d done that before, when she didn’t want to be alone. how would splinter feel, though, when he woke up and cassandra was gone? she didn’t want him to think she was still angry- she was, but she didn’t want him to think that. he seemed to take things a bit too seriously anyway- just yesterday, he couldn’t tell that she wasn’t angry about him calling her a demon anymore. 

she’d just write him a note, then. she got up, quiet as she could be, and walked over to the kitchen and pulled out a notepad. 

she stared at the blank page for a few minutes, before her mind wandered, distracted by her own thoughts and drawn, inevitably to the bright light lines to the future. tomorrow was probably going to be an easy day- all of the most likely futures were cassandra coming home to splinter’s family, and hearing about their day. they’d complain about being bored in such a tiny space, and donnie would pester her about her life. from there the timeline split even more, depending on what she revealed and how they reacted.

but... there was another possible path. it was highly unlikely- there was a less than three percent chance of it actually happening….but if it did happen, the results would be catastrophic. she sighed. better to at least put some sort of plan in place in case the worst did happen.

she looked at her star map, then tapped the screen three times with her thumb. the screen illuminated, but did not project anything into the room. 

“ _ ava _ ,” she said softly, switching to her song-like mother tongue,  _ “i need you to be prepared for the least likely event tomorrow. _ ”

* * *

splinter frowned at the note on the kitchen table as he reread it for what felt like the hundredth time. he was mildly hurt that cassandra had left before he woke up, but he understood that she might need some space. though she assured him in her note that she wasn’t upset, he still worried.

he held in a sigh and turned back to his sons, saying, “you do not have to like cassandra, but you do have to respect her. she has saved us- saved all of you- twice now, and regardless of what she is or where she is from, she deserves some respect for that.” 

“we’re sorry sensei,” his sons said in chorus. splinter let out the sigh he’d been holding in, and his face softened.

“trust takes time to build up, i know. but for now...i trust cassandra, so until you can trust her yourselves...trust my judgment instead,” he said. the turtles look at each other, seeming to have a silent conversation with each other before looking back at him and nodding. 

“yes, sensei,” they said. 

“good,” he said turning back to the note. “now, cassandra said to be extremely quiet today- apparently the woman beneath us is very nosy and prone to overreacting. no running, shouting, or fooling around at all. do you understand?”

* * *

to their credit, they made it to noon before raph lost his temper and pushed mikey into a side table, knocking over a vase of sunflowers that shattered when it fell.

a silence fell over the apartment fell over the apartment immediately as the hamato family waited for any sort of consequence.

* * *

mildred smith looked up sharply at the sound- something had shattered in the apartment above her. that cassandra lyn was such a clumsy woman, it was a wonder how she had become a firefighter at all. it didn’t surprise mildred that cassandra  _ was  _ a firefighter considering what kind of person she was, but honestly, the fact that cassandra was able to keep her job was astounding.

mildred walked over to the window, and realized with a start that cassandra’s car wasn’t in front of the apartment building. in fact- cassandra probably wasn’t home at all. if she’d been home two nights ago, and mildred had seen her car at home yesterday, that meant she most likely had work today. so...who knocked over whatever had shattered? 

she thought back to the recent string of apartment robberies that she’d heard about on the news- could it be...? as mildred walked to her phone, she reasoned that it was better to be safe than sorry. she dialed her phone and waited for the operator to pick up.

_ “911, what’s your emergency?” _

* * *

 

cassandra was washing her hands when she felt everything shift. she gripped the sides of the sink as the world spun around her, and felt a wave of nausea hit her like a freight train as all of the timelines shifted, from the most likely flow of time, to the least. suddenly she could no longer see the happy ending she had seen earlier today.

no, she could only see her friends being either captured or shot or on the run- now she only saw an empty apartment. 

anger rose in her throat like bile, and she nearly screamed,  _ “are you fucking  _ **_kidding_ ** _ me?!” _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ITS BEEN A WHILE, HUH?  
> yeah, sorry about the long wait. i'm struggling in classes and i wrote two other one shots bc the muse simply wouldn't leave me. anyway. the turtles can't quite accept that cassandra is who she is at face value- she might not have lied about being an alien, but in the first chapter...she doesn't give them a lot of personal details. donnie and raph find this suspicious.  
> also what mildred smith means by "considering what kind of person cassandra was"...it's basically the lesbian cop trope, but applied to firefighters.  
> as always, leave a comment telling me what you thought!


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> in which splinter learns to trust in cassandra's abilities.

josie jumped as cassandra stormed out of the bathroom, looking like she was ready to breathe fire. the firefighter raised an eyebrow as cassandra walked up to her, and put her feet on the ground, sitting up. 

“something up-” josie started before cassandra interrupted her. 

“my neighbor called the police, thinking my guests were breaking into my apartment- can you cover for me? i need to go,  _ now _ ,” cassandra said, and josie’s eyes widened.

“wait- they called the cops? didn’t they-” 

“no!” cassandra said, throwing her hands up. “they didn’t! and i’ve gotta- can i-”

“go, i’ll call in sam,” josie said, standing up to walk to the phone. cassandra gave her a relieved smile, and nodded, running to the door. before she was there, however, josie called after her. “take my bike instead!” 

“what?” cassandra said, confused. 

“gimme your keys, and take my bike instead. i’ll bring down your car later when i get off work. but you’ll go nowhere fast in this traffic with a car,” josie said, walking quickly to catch up to cassandra. 

the blonde nodded, and fished her keys out of her pocket, unclipping her car keys from the the main ring and throwing them to josie. “good idea- thank you, josie.”

josie nodded and shooed her away, saying, “go!” 

cassandra left without another word. 

it was only after cassandra had left that josie realized how hot the room had gotten- it wasn’t always this hot, was it?

* * *

 

cassandra’s apartment was completely silent and had been that way for a good five minutes- everyone was too scared to move, afraid that one of cassandra’s neighbors would come to the door and demand to know what was going on. 

another thirty seconds passed before splinter relaxed. “i think we are in the clear,” he said softly. 

just then, the disk- ava, cassandra had called her- lit up and said, in a matter of fact tone, “cassandra has just called me. the police are on their way.” 

“what?!” splinter hissed, heart stopping. 

“the police are on their way. but don’t worry, cassandra has a plan,” ava said, optimism ringing in her voice. 

“she- she has a plan?” splinter whispered, borderline furious. “she knew this was going to happen?! why didn’t she tell us?!”

“but...she did,” ava said, confused. “she didn’t tell you all of it, but she told you you needed to be quiet, and that her neighbor was nosy and prone to overreacting.”

the boys had huddled around their father, afraid of being discovered. splinter looked anxiously between his sons and the disk on the counter. 

“s-she didn’t say the police would come!” raph said, feeling scared and guilty for knocking the vase over. 

“rarely does cassandra share any part of her visions, let alone tell someone all of it,” ava tried to explain. “she’s an augur- she knows what she’s doing.”

splinter exhaled sharply through his nose, closing his eyes for a minute before nodding. “all right, what was cassandra’s plan?”

* * *

 

cassandra must have looked funny, pedaling furiously down the road, wearing no jacket in the frigid weather, and with a furious look on her face. her double vision had been on since she got on the bike, and she was biking through as many red lights as she could get away with. 

cassandra was fuming. cassandra was furious. cassandra was angrier than she had been in a long, long time. she was upset last night, because that star map was her last link to her grandmother, but she wasn’t...that wasn’t  _ real  _ anger. that wasn’t the rage that was growing in her chest at alarming rate right now. 

she turned a corner, tucking her phone into her bra- normally, she would put it in her pocket, but she couldn’t steer the bike and stuff it in her pocket. she nearly crashed three times when she was trying to call ava- she wished, for the hundredth time, that paola would stay with her. all of this would be so much easier if she was here. 

paola and cassandra could pull off stunts like the one she was going to have to pull off all by herself. of course, splinter would help, but...he...just didn’t know the system the way paola did. he didn’t really quite get how cassandra worked yet, and that would just get in the way if she had tried a more complex plan than the one she’d put in place. cassandra and paola were a well oiled machine, while cassandra and splinter were a brand new machine that needed to be broken in. 

she wasn’t entirely sure if it would work, but it was the best thing she could come up with at four in the morning, and with splinter not fully understanding how these things went. 

she doubled down and pedaled faster, just barely avoiding getting hit by a car. whoops. 

* * *

“how is this supposed to work?” splinter said, turning on the shower and pulling the curtain closed. the boys stood in a huddle in the bathroom, looking at their father as he barricaded the door with a chair.

“i don’t know,” ava said from her resting spot on the sink. “cassandra just told me what to do, not how it would work when executed.” 

“so turn on the shower, barricade the door, and- and then what?!” splinter said, words laced with frustration. “we are  _ trapped  _ here!” 

“you’d still be trapped if you were in the rest of her apartment,” said a new voice. splinter turned towards the sink, alarmed by the newcomer’s voice.

“paola, have you been listening in this whole time?” ava said, surprised by the second voice as well. 

“off and on again since last night, when you were woken up,” paola said crankily. “you said you trusted cassandra, and that that should be enough,  _ right _ ?” 

“i- yes, i did,” splinter said, bewildered by paola’s sudden appearance. “how did you-”

“then why do you refuse to trust her judgement now?” paola said, interrupting him. her voice had a tone and an edge splinter hadn’t heard directed at him in years. 

he narrowed his eyes, feeling irritation well up inside him, at how powerless he felt and at the new voice that kept snapping at him. “that’s completely different! my sons are in danger, and cassandra knew and did not give any of us the entire plan, or- or how it was supposed to work. she- she could have said something, she could have-” 

“this is what she does,” paola pressed. “she’s an augur, she  _ knows  _ what’s she’s  _ doing _ !”

“but _ i  _ do not! i don’t know what an augur does! she left us a note saying not to make noise but never mentioned why. she gave ava instructions but did not tell her what it all was supposed to accomplish-” splinter said, voice growing louder.

_ “because that’s how this works!” _ paola fired back, voice dripping with anger and venom. “cassandra doesn’t give everyone all the pieces because we  _ trust her _ to make it work. we  _ trust her  _ to be able to lead us to the most desirable future- to avoid disaster.  _ that  _ is what an augur does.”

splinter tried to think of something to say, but before he could come up with anything, he heard sirens. 

everyone jumped at that, and splinter’s sons, who had stayed silent through their father’s argument with paola, ran to hug his legs. splinter could hear his heart pound in his chest- no matter what paola said, splinter and his sons were still trapped in this bathroom. 

“now it’s time for phase two of cassandra’s plan. you have to be completely silent,” ava said, voice hushed. 

“and she means completely silent- not like how ‘silent’ you all were earlier,” paola added snarkily. 

splinter felt a growl rumble in his chest- what was paola’s  _ deal _ ?

* * *

officers clark and reid responded to mrs. smith’s call, and were currently in front of cassandra lyn’s apartment, where they curiously heard the sounds of a shower coming from inside the apartment.

“ma’am, have you contacted miss lyn yet?” officer clark asked, to which mrs. smith shook her head. 

“no, i-” mrs. smith started, before cassandra’s next door neighbor came out and interrupted her.

“i just did,” lorelei hughes said, sighing as she closed her door. “cassie said she has guests, and that she’s on her way to get this sorted out.”

“she has a guest?” officer reid said, borderline exasperated. “were you aware of this, mrs. smith?”

mrs. smith shook her head. “no, i...i didn’t know that. i just heard a crash from her apartment and i knew she wasn’t home, so i was afraid that someone had broken in.”

lorelei, who’d had the police called to her apartment after her dog had knocked over her bookshelf when she was at work two months prior, sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose. “mrs. smith, this is why you need to contact us first. at the very least i would have heard anyone breaking in, and i could have told you she had guests. i heard them all day yesterday, and last night i could hear cassie talking to them through the wall.”

granted it’d been one in the morning, and lorelei had been woken up by the sounds of cassandra shouting, but...nonetheless, all of this was easily explained.

officer clark sighed. “alright, let’s get them out there and wait for miss lyn,” he said, banging on the door. “this is the police, please come out.”

“that’s not gonna work,” lorelei said, remembering her conversation with cassie. “there’s four little kids, none of whom speak english, and their dad is deaf. so the kids aren’t gonna understand you, and the dad’s not gonna hear you. cassie said to just wait until she got here.”

* * *

 

lorelei’s call happened right on queue. after giving her the story she’d rehearsed and nearly crashing yet again, cassandra was in the home stretch. assuming the police actually listened to lorelei, splinter and the boys should be in the all clear. 

hopefully, the police would think that splinter or his kids were in the shower, and since she’d told lorelei that splinter was deaf, that would explain why no one came to the door. 

cassandra’s legs ached and her four lungs were heaving for air, but she showed no signs of slowing down. she was almost there. she was almost there, and then they would be safe. if the police  _ did  _ break down the door or whatever, cassandra had told ava to mimic the voice of six year old french boy and try to stall until cassandra got there. 

she’d picked french because that was the only other earth language cassandra knew, and if she had to talk to her guests through the door, that was the only language she could pull off. 

cassandra was frighteningly good at weaving these webs of lies. 

she turned another corner, and saw her apartment in the distance.

* * *

 

splinter and his boys were huddled together in the corner of the bathroom, and he could hear his blood rushing in his ears. but he could also hear faint voices from the hallway- he couldn’t quite make out what they were saying, but...the voices seemed...relaxed- not the voices of people who were about to break down the door and go through cassandra’s apartment until they found his family.

then the police banged on the door, demanding that they come out, and splinter felt his heart stop again. 

“stay still,” ava whispered. “stay silent. cassandra will be here soon.” 

he wished he had as much faith as ava and paola did.

* * *

 

clark and reid were talking amongst themselves while lorelei completely ignored mrs. smith’s presence. all four of them jumped when they heard heavy footsteps coming up the stairs, and looked down the staircase to see cassandra, breathing heavily, running up the stairs. 

“i’m...here,” she said, leaning on the railing, and holding up her hand in the universal sign of “give me a minute.” 

“miss lyn, we’re very sorry to pull you away from work, but your downstairs neighbor called in a possible burglary, and we-” officer clark started, before cassandra cut him off. 

“ ‘t’s fine,” she said, shaking her head. “don’t worry ‘bout it.”

“we’d just like to make sure everything’s alright-” officer reid said before cassandra cut him off as well.

“i’ll do it. you all stay here,” cassandra said, walking up to her door and unlocking it. she slipped inside, and made a beeline for her bathroom. 

she knocked on it three times before saying softly, “it’s okay guys, it’s me.”

* * *

 

splinter let out a weak sigh of relief. he’d been ready to fight anyone who came through that door, having heard someone come in. 

“are we all clear?” splinter asked through the door quietly. 

“not quite yet,” she said. “turn off the water but stay put. i’ll go get rid of them.” 

he heard her retreat before he could say anything else. the bathroom was silent after he turned off the shower, but it was quickly broken by paola.

“told you so,” she said smugly. 

* * *

“sorry about all of this, officers,” cassandra said pleasantly. she waved as they descended down the stairs- only after she heard them make it to the first floor did her smile transform back into a scowl, and her eyes narrowed.

she turned on her heel to look at mrs. smith, anger at what might have happened welling up with a force so strong she could feel fire start to burn in her back lungs. she took a step forward. 

“how dare you call the police without checking with me first?!” cassandra said, venom dripping from every word. she took another step forward. “how dare you scare my guests like that- the kids were fucking terrified!”

cassandra kept marching forward until she was towering above mrs. smith. “you should have called me before you called the police- fucking hell, who does that?! who calls the police after one fucking thing falls in the apartment above you?”

“how was i supposed to know-” mrs. smith said weakly, wilting before cassandra’s anger. the hallway seemed to heat up, making cassandra’s anger all the more palpable. 

“you were supposed to  _ call me _ , and i know you have my phone number, because before you found out my _ dead fiancée  _ was a woman, you wouldn’t stop fucking calling me!” cassandra backed away suddenly, pacing angrily in front of her door. she stopped, a bitter grin on her face, and said, “or-  _ here’s a fucking idea _ \- talk to lorelei! my next door neighbor who was home, who could tell you if i had guests or not. but no- you won’t fucking talk to either of us just because of who we are!” 

“i-i was just trying to help-” she stuttered.

“news flash- you didn’t!” cassandra shouted. “now, if we’re done here, i’m going to try to comfort four scared little kids! lorelei-” cassandra started, before taking a moment to breathe. “thank you.”

with that, cassandra went back into her apartment, slamming the door shut. 

lorelei barely made it back into her apartment before she started laughing. she looked at her dog, who’d been waiting for her to come back in.

“i think i should call the police, because i’m fairly certain i just witnessed a murder,” she said, laughing as she hugged her dog.

* * *

 

“you can come out now, everyone’s gone,” splinter heard cassandra say. he removed the chair slowly and one by one the hamato family peaked their heads out into the hallway. when they slowly entered the kitchen, cassandra was pacing around, breathing out fire with every breath. 

her face was beet red and her hair was all kinds of messed up, making her look- to put it nicely, like a madman. the way her body was tensing and relaxing didn’t help either, and the fire really didn’t help. splinter had never seen cassandra so visibly angry before- even last night, she hadn’t been this angry. 

cassandra stopped when they were all in the kitchen, her eyes softening quite a bit as she looked at them. she sighed, creating a much bigger flame that came out the sides of her mouth, clinging to her face.    


“is everyone okay?” she asked, voice much softer than they expected. 

“we are fine,” splinter said, before adding quietly, “thanks to you.” 

cassandra shrugged before saying, “i’m sorry that happened- that wasn’t supposed to- the odds of that happening- of mrs. smith calling the cops- it was so low, i never thought it would actually happen.” 

“wait- it wasn’t supposed to happen?” splinter asked, confused. 

“yeah, the odds of that happening - of her calling the police- they were so low, i...didn’t really think it would happen. i mean, i put a plan in place in case it did happen, but...it caught me really off guard,” cassandra admitted, rubbing the back of her head. she sat down on one of the stools, exhausted, both physically and emotionally. 

“but...you still put in a plan in place, despite not thinking it would actually happen?” splinter said, sitting next to her. donnie and raph took the remaining two stools, leaving leo and mikey standing. leo quickly crawled into splinter’s lap, and mikey looked up at cassandra with pleading eyes.

cassandra caught sight of his gaze and softened, most of her anger melting away. “put those puppy dog eyes away, kiddo,” she said, leaning down to pick up the turtle and placing him on her lap. “of course i put a plan in place- if i hadn’t it would have been...catastrophic. you’re my friends, i could never just...leave you to that kind of danger.” 

mikey looked up at cassandra from his place in her lap and said, “paola and papa got into a fight.” 

cassandra blinked, shaking her head. “paola? wait- where’s the star map?”    


donnie held it out and put it on the table sheepishly, afraid she’d get mad again. cassandra didn’t notice this, however, instead focusing on the disk. splinter, however, was focused on his youngest son- he couldn’t believe michelangelo had tattled on him! 

“paola, are you here?” cassandra asked, looking at the disk curiously. 

“....maybe,” paola said, sulking. 

“how long have you been here?” she asked, laughing a little. cassandra had reached that point of emotional exhaustion where anything was funny. 

“since last night, when ava sent out the alarm,” paola answered. 

“why didn’t you say anything? if i’d known you were here- well i don’t know, but it’d have been nice to know you were here,” cassandra said, before looking down at mikey. “am i right, mikey? she visits, and she doesn’t even say anything.”

mikey blinked, then nodded, confused by her question. 

cassandra was really fucking tired.

“anyway, it’s kinda good you’re here. splinter and i wanted to talk to you about something,” cassandra said, and splinter wasn’t sure if she’d forgotten about the fight mikey had told her about, or was just saving it for later. 

“what about?” paola said warily. 

“we’re gonna need one of the spare batteries, and probably some of the spare parts too,” cassandra explained. “we were hoping we could come up sometime...well, really soon.”

“all six of you?” paola asked. “sure, i don’t mind. but you’d better do it soon.”

cassandra and splinter looked at each other. “why?” she asked. 

“because there’s a blizzard coming?” paola said incredulously. “have either of you two been paying attention to the weather forecast?” 

both adults shook their heads. “we’ve had other stuff going on, paola,” cassandra said. “but- there’s a blizzard coming?” 

“yeah, it’s gonna be here in week,” paola said. “so...you should plan to be up here by then.” 

cassandra closed her eyes and nodded. “alright, so we’ll be up there as soon as possible, i guess.” 

“why do you need a battery anyway?” paola said. 

“yeah, why?” donnie echoed. none of the turtles had known they were going anywhere. 

“we’re gonna hook up your house to a battery from my ship, so you don’t ever have to worry about power outages again,” cassandra explained. 

“from your ship?” leo asked. “like...your space ship?”

cassandra nodded. “the very same.” 

“if you all are coming up here anyway, you’ll get to see the spaceship too,” paola said. leo’s eyes went so wide they looked like they might pop out of his head. 

“we get to see a  _ real  _ spaceship?!” leo asked, leaning forward. 

cassandra nodded, smiling. 

“that’s so cool!” he shouted. 

“alright, there’s something i want to know,” paola said suddenly. “why are we hooking up their house to a battery, and why was it so important that no one sees them?” 

cassandra looked to splinter, and mouthed, “can i tell her?” 

splinter nodded- after all, they were going to be visiting the robot anyway. 

“well, uh, the kids are mutant turtles and splinter is a mutant rat man,” cassandra said awkwardly. 

there was a silence, before ava spoke up. “that explains several things.”

“that it does,” paola replied. “alright, so- oh my god, that’s why you called about turtles at one in the morning, isn’t it?”

“yes it is,” cassandra said. 

“the turtles had started hibernating and neither of you knew that turtles hibernated, right?” paola guessed, making donnie gasp. 

“we started hibernating? why did you tell us?” he asked. 

splinter and cassandra gave each other a look. both of them really didn’t have the energy to deal with this. 

“because we did not want to frighten you all,” splinter said as his sons stared at him. 

“hibernating isn’t scary though, it’s just sleeping,” donnie said, brow furrowed.

cassandra let out a huff of a laugh. “it was certainly scary for us,” she said. 

“wait, so- cassandra, why don’t you just stay the rest of the winter?” paola asked. 

“what,” cassandra said flatly, caught off guard by paola’s question.

“i’m serious! you can stay at my cabin for the rest of the winter,” paola said. “the six of you in your tiny apartment isn’t going to work- it’s what, day three? and you already had a super close call? and just installing the battery is going to take days- with a blizzard coming, it’s not like you can bring them back to their home. so...just stay at my cabin until it’s warm enough that you  _ can _ .”

all eyes were on cassandra. she looked up at the ceiling, thinking, when she suddenly looked at splinter and said, “what do you think?”

splinter blinked. “well, i...what is her cabin like?” he said. 

“it’s nice. big enough for everyone, and...there aren’t enough beds in the cabin, but there are in the ship, so...we could take the beds out of the ship, or we could sleep in the ship,” cassandra said. “it’s pretty secluded too- had to be, for us to be able to store the ship. it’s...not a bad idea, in all honesty.” 

splinter stroked his beard. it...was very tempting, if he was honest. a safe haven for the winter, far away from the prying eyes of the city? yes...it did sound like a good idea.

he nodded. “i think...i think that would be a good idea. what- what do you think?”

“i mean...i’m all for it but,” cassandra said, pausing. “how am i going to get out of work?”

* * *

 

“so the person you go to visit every other weekend is your sister, and she’s terminally ill?” josie said. “god, cece, i’m so sorry. yeah, i’m sure the chief would give you a leave of absence.” 

cassandra sniffed, rubbing her eyes again. “it just...you know what they say,” cassandra said, looking like she was going to cry again. “bad things come in threes.”

“geez, you’re telling me,” josie said. they were standing outside cassandra’s apartment building, with josie leaning on her bike. “you’re leaving as soon as possible, i’m assuming?”

“yeah,” cassandra sniffled.

josie looked at her watch. “cece, if you need anything, you know you can call me. please don’t- you’re not alone. you can rely on me...you can trust me.”

cassandra nodded halfheartedly, then went to go back inside. “goodnight, josie. thank you.”

as soon as cassandra started walking up the stairs, her teary eyed expression transformed into a frown. she hated lying to josie, and she wished she could trust her, but...not all of cassandra’s secrets were hers to tell.

she really wished she could tell josie, but she just couldn’t.

* * *

“get up,” splinter said gently as he came out of the bedroom after putting his sons to sleep.

cassandra looked up at him, bleary eyed and confused. “what?”

“you haven’t slept well in two days, so you’re sleeping on the couch tonight,” splinter said, voice leaving no room for argument. 

cassandra didn’t have it in her to argue, so she just nodded, and stumbled from her chair to the couch. “you sure?” she said, rubbing her eyes. 

“i’m sure,” he said, settling down into the chair. 

the room was silent for a few minutes, before cassandra spoke up from where she was sprawled on the couch. “hey, splinter?” she said softly.

“yes?” he asked. 

“you know you’re really important to me, right?” she said, looking him in the eyes. “you’re really the only earthling i feel comfortable enough around to really be myself, and i’m really happy we’re friends.” 

splinter blinked, not expecting this at all. he struggled to respond, saying, “you- you’re really my only friend, and i...i am glad we are friends too, cassandra. i care about you.” 

cassandra smiled, then said, “that was sappy.” 

splinter spluttered. “you started it!” 

“i never said  _ i  _ wasn’t sappy,” cassandra said with a grin. “...goodnight, splinter.”

“goodnight, cassandra,” he replied.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> OH BOY, ANOTHER FIC DONE!  
> anyway, a bit of behind the scenes- paola can move between her body, the ship, and the star map with ease, but when cassandra says she wishes paola would stay with her, she means her physical body. 
> 
> ...anyway i think that wraps it up! look out for "winter in the woods" next, hehehe.


End file.
